


Hidden Night

by Woofemus



Category: Tales of Series, Tales of Zestiria
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8192774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woofemus/pseuds/Woofemus
Summary: Alisha moves, leaning forward and resting her head on Rose’s shoulder. That’s good, Rose thinks. She doesn’t know what she’d do if Alisha were to look at her right now. She doesn’t know what she’d do if she were to look at Alisha right now.





	

**Author's Note:**

> references to the anime, specifically episode 11
> 
> indulgent fluff because I like a good old secret midnight rendezvous

The moon is still high in the sky by the time two long figures race across the rooftops in the nobles’ quarter. If the guards were diligent, they’d be noticed almost right away, but Rose knows how far corruption runs in Hyland. There’s no guard in the city at this time right now that cares about their duties, or if they did, a little gald would loosen their fingers and mind just as quickly. 

But the Scattered Bones have never been caught, and Rose is keen on keeping it that way.

When Rose begins to near the edge of the nobles’ quarters though, her feet start to slow. She lands on the next rooftop and doesn’t take off, instead turning her head slightly to scan for the manor off in the distance.

There’s a window open in the upper room, with someone leaning outside for a breath of air, blonde hair fluttering all around with the night breeze. 

 _Perfect_ , Rose thinks with a lazy smile. 

“Boss?” Eguille’s voice drifts over and she pays him a quick glance. 

“Don’t wait up for me,” she answers back with a careless wave. Even with their masks on, she knows his expression is both amused and exasperated. 

“Don’t do anything dangerous, Rose,” he warns uselessly before leaping off. Rose almost laughs. 

It’s already far too late for that, she thinks. 

Rose leaps off, feet taking her down a practiced road, one where she knows hides any line of sight from  _that_ particular window. It’s easy to sneak through the closed gate as well, and Rose is already on the rooftop once again, silently stalking toward the opposite end. Once she does, she glances down, just to make sure, before jumping down and swinging herself through the open window, easily landing inside. 

Rose turns around, and Alisha blinks back at her, startled, but, for whatever reason, not surprised. In fact, as Rose realizes where exactly Alisha is standing, just off to side right now, as if to avoid being kicked when Rose made her dramatic entrance, she looks like she’s expecting her. 

“Took you longer than normal tonight,” Alisha says with a slight quirk of her lips.

“Huh, counting down the stars for when I come?” Rose quips back, hand reaching up for her mask. “Miss me that much–” and Rose freezes, eyes completely taking in Alisha in this moment. 

Alisha… isn’t dressed in her usual nightclothes, or in her  _regular_ clothes for that matter. She has on some sort of fancy blue dress, with some kind of ridiculous white ribbon on the front, an actual  _tiara_ in her hair which is done up in some kind of nice hairdo too, with her shoulders and neck bare, and—

In front of her is decidedly notAlisha Diphda, the beloved Knight Princess of Hyland, but  _Alisha Diphda_ , one of the crown princesses to the throne, in all her noble birthright, looking more stunning and gorgeous than Rose has ever seen yet. Her unmarred pale skin shines from the moonlight, and Rose just wants to, wants to just– 

Rose’s hand drops back down. 

“Ah… I must seem quite strange, don’t I?” Alisha laughs, cheeks pink with embarrassment. It’s cute. Alisha’s cute. 

“There was a formal event I had to attend,” she continues, “and there were no more excuses I could give, so I was forced to go. I had only just gotten back and wanted a moment to relax before changing, and well…” she trails off with another laugh, looking expectantly, and maybe a little shyly, at Rose now. 

Rose hasn’t moved at all, hasn’t even  _twitched,_ not even when Alisha begins to look at her strangely. She needs to say something, anything, so this doesn’t get all weird, but she can’t. She can’t stop staring at Alisha. How can she, even when Rose can see the tired lines on Alisha’s face and the sag of her shoulders, when Alisha has the moon itself shining on her and she’s just so absolutely radiant?  

Rose thinks she could tell Alisha how beautiful she is every single day for the rest of her life, and it  _still_ wouldn’t be enough. 

And Rose chokes. That has to be the most sappy thought she’s ever had in her entire life, what’s even happening to her? She’s more than glad she has her mask on right now because she’s absolutely sure she’s blushing. Sheesh, Rose is  _blushing._

Lost in her own thoughts and busy cursing at herself, Rose notices too late when Alisha’s hand brushes against her mask. She startles, and Alisha gives her an odd look. When did Alisha come in front of her? 

_Too close, Alisha’s too close–_

“For being an assassin tonight, you’re quite distracted,” Alisha points out, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Rose would retort,  _wants_ to retort, but her mind is whirling instead. When she doesn’t answer, Alisha quirks an eyebrow at her, and raises her other hand to the mask. 

Rose wants to tell her to stop. She isn’t ready for this just yet, she isn’t ready to be bared so easily, she isn’t ready to face something she isn’t even sure of. What they have between them is something that should never be, she thinks. It’s only tentative, fleeting, transient, she convinces herself. There  _shouldn’t_ be anything more, she tells herself. 

Unfortunately for Rose, while she’s very good at lying to herself, she’s even better at following her desires. After all, it’s how she’s in this damned mess in the first place, her feet bringing her here instead of away as they should have been. Eguille might have been right, she thinks absently. 

“May I?” Alisha asks, her voice just barely above a whisper, as if she’s asking for something more from Rose instead. Rose can’t speak at all, not like this, and she wants nothing more than to leap away, tell Alisha to not bare her at all like this. 

But Rose, imperceptibly to anyone else but Alisha, nods.  

Alisha’s fingers firmly press down before prying the mask away. 

The hood of the Scattered Bones’ garb obscures part of Rose’s eyes, but Alisha reaches out to pull it back. If Rose thinks Alisha’s fingers are lingering more than she should be, well, she thinks she’s dreaming instead. 

Rose, stony-faced now, meets Alisha’s eyes. Alisha moves away her hand, holding Rose’s mask with a bright look in her eyes as she smiles. “Rose,” she greets. 

“Yeah?” Rose tries to say, except she’s still not ready to speak at all, and the word becomes caught in her throat instead. She clears her throat, and catches Alisha giggling at her.

Alisha might be the only royal in the world who Rose doesn’t mind laughing at her. 

Alisha pulls away instead of saying anything further, gently putting down Rose’s mask on the table next to the window. She takes off her gloves as well, revealing even more pale skin–Rose swallows and clenches her fists, listening to the crinkling of her own gloves to distract herself. Rose can’t help but wonder if Alisha knows what a damn tease she’s being right now. Rose quickly darts her eyes to the table instead, to where the mask of the Scattered Bones sits next to pure white gloves. An odd combination, Rose thinks. Just like the two of them.  

Footsteps alert Rose that Alisha is coming back and before she can steady herself, Alisha is standing in front of her, an unreadable look in her eyes. Rose stares back at her, but she can’t help the feeling that she’s being studied instead. Studied for what, Rose thinks she might know, but only in her dreams. 

“Will you share a dance with me, Rose?” Alisha’s voice is soft, gentle, alluring. She looks straight into Rose’s eyes, her own shining bright in the moonlight. 

“U-uh, um,” Rose smoothly articulates. Dancing? Rose doesn’t do stuff like that, or at least the sort Alisha does. Rose’s dancing is teetering precariously on top of a tavern table after having too many drinks, with the jeers of just as equally inebriated people as her music. Whatever Alisha’s expecting, it’s definitely not what Rose does. 

She tries to smirk, ignoring how shaky the gesture is. “Really, Princess? You just came back from some fancy ball, haven’t you danced enough?”

“Yes, I did dance quite a bit,” Alisha answers slowly, glancing away from her before meeting Rose’s eyes again, a tug on the corner of her lips. Rose recognizes that look in the princess’ eyes, and she never thought she’d see her own mischievousness reflected back at her. “But I didn’t get to dance with _you_.”

“ _Me_?” Rose blurts out eloquently, staring wide-eyed at Alisha. She doesn’t know what this damned princess is thinking of anymore. No, she can’t do this. She can’t give in to Alisha’s whims like she always does. No matter how prettily Alisha bats her eyes at her, Rose will refuse. 

“Yes.” Alisha smiles, and damn it all, Rose doesn’t even need to look, not when she can hear the warmth in her voice. “I’d like for you to have the last dance of the night.”

“I’m honored,” Rose answers, the quip an automatic response as she tries to calm her racing heart. When Alisha smiles at her like that, Rose is always weak every time. It’s not fair, to be so wholly affected by one person.

“Then…?” Hope shines in Alisha’s eyes, and she steps closer.

Excuses. Rose needs one.  _Right now_. Something,  _anything—_

“M-music!” Rose all but gasps out. She sounds desperate, and she  _knows_ Alisha can tell. “There isn’t… er, there isn’t any music! Kind of hard to dance without any music, r-right?” 

“Then I’ll sing one for us,” Alisha answers without any hesitation though the expression on her face gives her true answer. Rose’s glad that one of them can find this funny but she wishes it were her instead of Alisha. 

Fingers brush against Rose’s hand, and Rose nearly jolts in response. She doesn’t though, because Alisha’s staring at her, and dammit all, Rose knows she’s ensnared. How can she not be, when Alisha looks up at her through half-lidded eyes, with a smile on her face that’s all bold, like she’s absolutely sure Rose will accept?

She hates it when Alisha’s suddenly confident like this. She hates it so much because Rose can’t resist her when she’s like this. 

Taking Rose’s silence as compliance, Alisha pulls forward Rose’s hands. Even with the dainty touch and through Rose’s own gloves, Alisha’s hands feel rougher than Rose’s ever imagined. Of course it is. Alisha isn’t the Knight Princess of Hyland for nothing, Rose has to keep reminding herself.  

Their eyes remain on each other even as their hands move around. Despite the soft look Alisha has on, the grasp of her hands are firm, moving with purpose. Rose feels her gloves being pulled off first, and Rose thinks she should help, but there’s just  _something_ about Alisha tugging off her gloves and wanting to feel Rose’s touch—

Rose sucks in a breath as soon as the night air, cold as it is, hits her clammy hands.

“Forgive me,” Alisha murmurs suddenly. Rose has no idea why she’s even saying that until Alisha just carelessly tosses Rose’s gloves somewhere in the direction of the table. Oh. Wait, when did she even get  _both_ gloves off? Did they even land on the table? Rose doesn’t know nor does she really care, especially not when Alisha’s hands are back on hers, bare skin touching now.

Alisha brings Rose’s hands forward, resting them upon her own waist. Her fingers tickle along Rose’s hands for just a second too long before she removes them, placing them now on Rose’s shoulders.

“Follow my movements,” Alisha whispers, all demure and coy. It’s not like Rose has any other choice anymore, all focus already on the princess in front of her. Rose tries not to be too aware of her hands on Alisha, how she could just slide them up against Alisha’s back, let her fingers tease across the bare skin of her shoulders, use them to pull close Alisha and—

Alisha begins to hum. Rose focuses on that wonderful noise to soothe the fire burning through her veins. Before long, Alisha begins to move, and Rose follows suit. The song Alisha hums is slow, her voice a low croon, a pleasant buzz that washes over Rose and calms the aching need. Even when Alisha’s hums begin to rise just the slightest in volume, Rose still feels the same, lets her body sway to Alisha’s movements as easily as she’s always done.

Alisha’s dress swishes around them and Rose thinks she might trip on it if she isn’t careful. It feels like the wind, suddenly there, and then gone the next moment. It makes Rose think that if she doesn’t hold on tight enough, Alisha will disappear right from her hands. 

Alisha’s steps had started as a slow tempo but Rose can tell they’ve picked up slightly when Alisha’s voice climbs slightly higher again. The climax of the song, Rose thinks, but then Alisha intertwines her hands around Rose’s neck and all her thoughts are gone. All she can do is follow Alisha’s movements as they sway all over the room, to wherever Alisha wants to take her. 

It feels like forever when they start to slow. When did they even start dancing in the first place? Rose doesn’t know, it feels like she’s always had her hands on Alisha, and Alisha’s always been here, in front of her, swaying to a slow rhythm only she knows, pulling Rose along for the ride. Alisha’s hands, filled with callouses, brush against Rose’s neck. There’s no longer any sort of space in between them, the both of them even closer than before, all but pressing into each other. 

Alisha’s hums quiet down to a murmur. Slowly, her crooning fades from the room, and their movements stop. In the absence of the noise, the warmth of Alisha pressing against Rose takes its place almost immediately. 

They don’t speak. What is there for them to even say? Rose is pretty sure all she can do right now is make incoherent sounds. Not exactly romantic, if she had to say. It’s only Alisha who has this ability, the power to render Rose’s silver tongue useless and turn all her coherent thoughts into mush.

Alisha moves, leaning forward and resting her head on Rose’s shoulder. That’s good, Rose thinks. She doesn’t know what she’d do if Alisha were to look at her right now. She doesn’t know what  _she’d_ do if she were to look at Alisha right now.

Alisha begins to hum again but she isn’t moving. Not a dance then? Not a dance, Rose figures out. This is nice too. Comfortable even. Rose can’t help but indulge herself a little more, pulling Alisha closer still, feeling Alisha’s hums vibrate through her. It’s sort of awkward though, since Alisha’s wearing heels and that means she’s a few inches taller right now, and Rose admits that puts her off slightly.

Alisha stops humming and pulls back though, just enough so they can look straight at each other, gaze into each other’s eyes and all that pretty poetry. This whole scene is surreal to Rose, like she’s watching this whole thing from someone else. It’s disgustingly romantic, with the moon shining into the room even, shining bright behind Alisha, with their arms around each other, and the two of them looking at each other like they’re the only people in the world.  

But Rose can’t even bring herself to care about that, not when Alisha is smiling so sweetly at her. Damn it all, Sorey really did know what he was talking about when he named Alisha.  

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Alisha says suddenly, with a soft laugh even. Rose’s mouth forms a thin line. It wasn’t, but she doesn’t want to admit that to Alisha. Her hands tug slightly on the fabric of Alisha’s dress. She wonders if Alisha will get mad if she rips it. The temptation’s strong, an angry Alisha in ripped clothes—

Alisha’s speaking again. Rose forces herself to concentrate.

“I’m glad I had the best dance for last,” Alisha speaks in a light tone.

Rose’s cheeks warm, and knows Alisha can feel it too when her smile turns just a little crooked. This… is weird. Alisha’s never been quite so bold before. Just how many glasses of wine did she have before coming home? Just enough to loosen her up? Rose is supposed to be the one whispering sweet nothings to her, not the other way around.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rose grumbles, all she can really say without giving away how flustered she is. This Alisha in her arms is… terrifying.

Alisha’s fingers begin to ghost along her skin at that moment. _Exhilarating_ , Rose corrects with a slight shiver. The fingers come to cradle Rose’s face, a more than gentle touch but still leaves Rose shuddering.

 _Still dangerous_ , Rose reminds herself with a sharp exhale, feeling her knees tremble. How can the princess look at Rose with such a tender look in her eyes? How is Rose supposed to hold herself back now? It isn’t fair at all.  

Rose swallows the knot in her throat. “A-Alisha, we… I—” and Rose stops speaking, when one of Alisha’s fingers moves to place itself in front of her lips, shushing her. Not that Rose would have been able to continue anyway, already feeling her resolve shatter.

Oh, who’s she even trying to kid, she never had any in the first place.

She hopes Eguille won’t be too mad when he finds out.

“Rose,” Alisha only says before taking away her fingers and replacing them with her lips. It’s a soft peck but Rose can still taste and smell the wine on her breath, even as Alisha pulls away a moment too soon. It does very little to quell the hunger in Rose, who greedily chases after her.

This isn’t the first time they’ve kissed, but this is the first time they’ve kissed like  _this_ , where one of Alisha’s hands slide into Rose’s hair and pushes her closer, where Rose angles herself to kiss Alisha deeper than she’s ever done, where she’s sure that the both of them won’t be satisfied until they just meltinto each other.

It’s with the utmost regret that they have to pull away. Breathing’s overrated, Rose thinks impatiently, as she steps backward and tugs Alisha with her. With that single step, they’ve stepped away from the light of the moon and into the darkness of the room. They can barely see each other yet they find each other all the same.

Rose slides her hands upward now, gliding along Alisha’s back. Her hands touch that spot _there_ , right on Alisha’s back, exactly where—

It’s Alisha who pulls away the moment the air changes, gently thumbing Rose’s cheek. “Rose?” she asks with all the concern in the world that Rose doesn’t deserve. Rose can’t face her so she looks away down at the floor. Her fingers continue to run over that same spot, where Alisha’s scar is. Not even the healing artes of the seraphim could completely rid the ugly blemish that Alisha was never meant to get.

Rose doesn’t answer but she doesn’t need to, because Alisha just always seems to _know_. This happens almost every damn time, Rose thinks with a swear. For an assassin, she’s getting far too sentimental, or maybe when it just comes to this princess. 

Alisha hums softly as she takes one of her hands to touch Rose’s arm, pulling slightly. Rose slowly releases her tight grip, hand slipping away from the scar. Her hand feels cold but not one second later, Alisha’s taken ahold of her hand, slowly rubbing circles on it with her thumb.

“You don’t blame yourself, do you?” Alisha asks softly. Rose wants to tell her no, she never did, that whatever happened to her that day was entirely Alisha’s fault, for tempting fate. She wants to yell at Alisha too, for trying to pretend that everything’s still the same.

It never sits well with Rose when people get hurt because of her no matter what the circumstance. Blood for blood, Rose had remembered thinking at that time, desiring nothing but blood on her daggers, to distract from the red on her hands.

It’s a scar that’ll never entirely fade away, something that stays at the back of the mind. Betrayal always hurts no matter what, but there’s a special kind of feeling when the people of her kingdom who she’s served and _risked her life_ for are the ones who put the dagger in her back. It’s a fear that’ll always be there, no matter how much time passes. Rose understands exactly how it feels to be betrayed by a kingdom; she’s only wished that someone so _pure_ and _devoted_ as Alisha would never have to experience that. 

“No,” Rose lies, and Alisha’s thankfully had too many drinks to catch the tremor in her voice. She’s sharper than Rose gives her credit for sometimes.

Alisha leans forward, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Rose’s mouth. Rose doesn’t follow after her this time, feeling too somber. 

“Would you mind one more dance?” Alisha asks, hesitantly threading their fingers together. Rose thinks she sounds shyer than before. It makes her indulge, taking their joined hands and pressing a kiss on top of Alisha’s, enjoying the pink spreading across Alisha’s face.

“Anything for the princess,” Rose murmurs with a wry smile, and when Alisha smiles so gently at her, Rose thinks she might truly mean those words for once.


End file.
